Album Review: Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again

Having won the BBC Sound of 2012 award at the start of the year, could we really expect such an amazing album from Michael Kiwanuka? Previous winners of the award have been the likes of Adele, Ellie Goulding and Jessie J. I am not saying that these guys made amazing albums, in fact far from it in my opinion, but they did take the nation by storm.

Michael Kiwanuka is a confessional singer-songwriter in an age dominated by the likes of Adele: in the absence of a collapsed relationship to feel anguished about, Kiwanuka's songs concern themselves with matters of a more spiritual nature. Dig a little deeper into he lyrics of the album and you start to realise that the album is a tad God-bothering but this isn't a bad thing. There was a time that an album so God-bothering would have turned the UK main stream buyers off. But with the likes of Mumford & Sons sneaking religious lyrics into there happy brand of 'British folk rock', you can't say that their album sales got a knocking.


Track one of the album is jazzy and starts with a Jazz Flute. Title track Home Again has a soft mellow rock feel that Jack Johnson would be happy to release. And there are airs of 60s and 70s hippie feel about the album. It doesn't feel like it's just a black guy with a guitar, in some songs theres a drum beat which has a Bon Iver territory and it starts to get a bit hazy and magical.


So to sum up my thoughts, basically I really like this album. It's has a feel of Bill Withers, Otis Reading and John Martyn all rolled into one. I would file this under 'easy-listening Sunday music.' And that is not a bad thing. No sir not one bit.


M favourite track from the album: